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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Corn on the cob: It's what's for breakfast, at least for those who visited the Madison County Farmers Market and its 10th annual Corn Festival on Saturday morning.

Millie Allen of Huntsville was one of the shoppers enjoying a piece of peaches-and-cream corn at 8:30 a.m. She comes often to the farmers market to buy vegetables from the farmers who grow them.

"It's a wonderful place for fresh food, especially fresh corn for breakfast," Allen said as she lifted her cob for a buttery bite.

Allen was lucky to get some corn Saturday given the recent lack of rain and scorching temperatures, two factors that make it hard to grow corn. Between June and yesterday's festival, the area suffered through 11 days of 100-plus temperatures and 22 days of no rain, creating woe for farmers, especially those who specialize in corn.

"If it doesn't rain, corn won't pollinate," said Chris Reed, who arrived at the farmer's market Saturday with about a third of a pick-up truck full of corn.

Fortunately, Reed relies on his soybean and wheat crops for his living. He grows corn on his farm in Taft, Tenn., for piggy bank money for his little girl and vacation money.

"But it didn't turn out too well" this year, Reed said.

The weather has definitely affected the amount of corn the farmers are bringing to the market each week, Andrea Dye, manager of the farmers market, said.

"In a good season we usually have 20 farmers with corn," compared with about 10 this year.

Corn isn't the only crop that has been hit hard by the lack of rain and scorching temperatures, though.

"It's been really rough," Sherry Cloud said as she took a break from serving customers at the stand she runs with her husband, J.D. The two grow "pretty much everything" on 10 acres in Cloud's Cove off Hobbs Road in south Huntsville.

"We irrigate," Cloud said. "If we didn't, we wouldn't have anything."

Even with irrigation, the Clouds have lost a lot of produce. Their cantaloupes are gone, victims of the heat, but they have more planted. And their tomato crop has been downright depressing. They've harvested one tomato for every three they've had to throw away, Cloud said.

The rain finally did come on the evening of July 4, but the significant, save-the-plants rainfall didn't set in until July 9. Since then, as of Saturday afternoon, 4.18 inches of rain has fallen at Huntsville International Airport, said Stephen Latimer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Huntsville office.

The area is still 3.02 inches below normal in rainfall, but the week's forecast holds chances for scattered showers, some of which could be severe, Latimer said.

The temperatures will be in the low 90s, with lows in the low 70s and high humidity, "basically normal for this area," he said.

When the rain finally did start earlier this month, Sherry Cloud was more than happy to see it.